This policy brief presents the South African Social Cohesion Barometer and key findings and recommendations that emanated from the application of this measurement tool. We perceive social cohesion as consisting of three components (domains): economic, sociocultural and civic

Findings show that community based management (CBM) of water points offers alternatives to improve water access and management in rural communities. This requires a coordinated approach by communities, governments and, where possible, the private sector to establish the required infrastructure and support effective institutional arrangements in communities.

This policy brief emanates from an intervention study that was conducted to develop a male circumcision health promotion programme in the Libode rural communities of the Eastern Cape province in the period 2009–2013. The study established that there is a need to include traditional leaders as custodians of the circumcision custom in the planning and development of intervention programmes to reduce both the high mortality rates and the incidence of injury associated with the practice.

This brief suggests that the expansion of female condom programming could be both strategically beneficial in reducing new HIV infections while also upholding the SRHR of South Africa’s women and girls. It makes some recommendations for both policy and programming efforts.

In 2014, the Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy Development (PSPPD), commissioned a diagnostic evaluation of poverty and relative deprivation at small area level for the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The full report presents an analysis of the South African Index of Multiple Deprivation (SAIMD) 2011 and its component domains at ward level across the province. The report also presents analysis of deprivation in the two former homelands within the province – previously the Ciskei and Transkei – and compares deprivation in these areas with other former homelands in South Africa as well as with the rest of the country.

This paper analyses changes in income inequality and the composition of the middle class over a 15 year period using data from the 1993 PSLSD and NIDS Waves 1 and 2. The high level of inequality in South Africa makes defining the middle class difficult. In this study we use income decile groups four to seven to define the middle class, groups eight and nine to define the upper class and decile ten describes the top income group.

This analysis offers insight into short-term household change in South Africa by examining the extent and correlates of residential and compositional change. Data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) are used to measure the change in physical residence between the waves, categorising individuals as either ‘movers’ or ‘non-movers’. Compositional change is also measured, by sorting individuals into ‘changers’ or ‘non-changers,’ based on whether their household membership was the same in Waves 1 and 2.

Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit Working Paper Number 194. This paper analyzes the role of income from different sources in order to investigate which one(s) continue to drive those high levels of inequality.